Longwu five years, from spring to autumn,

In the past eight months, because of the secret north-south negotiations between the Ming and Qing courts, the land of China has finally maintained peace. In this troubled era, the people have been given a window period of recuperation and respite.

The secret negotiations were reached in April and carried out by the parties in private.

After this was achieved, the truce continued for five months.

From this five-month period of absolute quiet, it can be seen that our Ming Dynasty is a state of etiquette and faith, and although Beijing has not yet recovered, it has strictly fulfilled the things that I promised people in private.

If there are other frictional incidents in the future, it will be absolutely the fault of the treacherous Tatar Qing. It's those white-eyed wolves who can't be fed are despicable and shameless, and they are virtuous and good.

It's a pity that the forces of the north and the south have completely different ways of using this period of peace.

Hauge was consolidating power and purging internally, tossing for a long time, not doing any farming and construction work, and further chronic blood loss due to the struggle for power and profit.

On the Ming side, Mimi's daily farming is proceeding steadily, and even ushered in a new breakthrough.

In the long run, the further improvement of the comprehensive national strength of the Ming Dynasty is definitely infinitely effective.

It turned out that in April of this year, that is, when the secret peace between the north and the south was reached, Zheng Chenggong, who was far away in Fujian and Dayuan, brought back a long-lost and far-reaching good news to Zhu Shuren-

In the battle to recover the Dayuan, which lasted from the winter of the second year of Longwu to the spring of the third year of Longwu, the two or three thousand Dutch soldiers captured by the Ming people, as well as other Dutch employees, civilians, women and children, who totaled tens of thousands of people, finally came to be released.

These people served on Dayuan Island for two years and two months, and finally came back to the Dutch mainland to ask for instructions and mediate. Tasman.

And Janssen. Since Tasman dared to return to the Ming Dynasty, he obviously asked the Dutch government to show sincerity to meet the conditions for the release of the prisoners confessed by Zhu Shuren more than two years ago.

With Janssen. One of the most important figures in the Tasman's trading fleet was René, a great scientist who had previously been able to mix in the Netherlands among European countries. Descartes.

Descartes, on descent and origin, was of course undoubtedly French, but France is still a Catholic country,

Therefore, in the second half of his life, Descartes engaged in scientific work, and he could only hide in the Netherlands, and he would never be able to return to his homeland. If he dared to go back, the cardinals in France would certainly not spare him.

And Janssen. Tasman was preparing to set sail from Holland at the end of 1646, and it was only at the beginning of 1648 that he returned to East Asia and landed in the Ming Dynasty.

The Thirty Years' War of Religion in Europe lasted from 1618 to 1648. The Treaty of Westphalia, which opened the international diplomatic system in later generations, was also signed in 1648, which laid the foundation for the West that "all countries, regardless of size, have equal say in diplomatic negotiations".

So, Janssen. Tasman took Descartes on his journey, a year before the birth of modern diplomacy and religious reconciliation.

Descartes had not yet had time to see the equality and reconciliation of Europe, so he was naturally not so resistant to crossing the ocean and seeing the world in a new environment that was tolerant of scientific research.

Moreover, even if Descartes himself resisted, William II, Prince of Orange, the new ruler of the Netherlands, who had just come to power, would not allow Descartes to refuse. (Wilhelm II succeeded to the throne in March 1647, a few months after Descartes set sail.) But in the last year before his succession, his father, Frederick Hendrik, was seriously ill and left the affairs of state to his younger son.)

After all, Zhu Shuren made a clear price: get Descartes here, and then release all the prisoners of Dayuan Island and the Dutch reinforcement fleet, otherwise let these captives be coolies in Dayuan for a lifetime!

In the eyes of Wilhelm II, a man who is a god and a god is engaged in research, where can he compare with the lives of thousands of Dutch soldiers, employees, and adventurers! Of course he would have sold Descartes.

……

After more than a year of stop-and-go sailing, occasionally waiting for the monsoon, Descartes finally set foot on the mysterious land of the Ming Dynasty.

Although he was forced to come, he didn't have much resistance in his heart, and even had a few hints of expectation.

Because he felt Janssen. Tasman's relays reveal the importance that the Ming regent attached to scientific research.

That great prince of the East, willing to exchange the lives of thousands of prisoners of war for a scientist, then he must be the most enlightened and wise ruler in the world!

So much so that before they met, Descartes had already imagined Zhu Shuren as the kind of "philosopher-king" depicted in Plato's "Ideal Republic" that only existed in an ideal state.

The rule of the sage is really a sign of the great harmony of the world.

And Zheng Chenggong, who was in charge of receiving them, also knew that the eldest brother of the prince attached great importance to this "Hongyi Confucian".

Therefore, when he stopped at Quanzhou for supplies, he eagerly entertained the Dutch, gave them a short rest, and relieved the fatigue of months of continuous sailing.

Originally, according to the Ming system, Hongyi ships were not allowed to sail inland, and they had to unload their goods in Macao or Dayuan, and the Ming merchants would transfer them to various places along the coast.

This time, Zheng Chenggong also got an order, and he made an exception for them, which is also to show the West the new atmosphere of openness and inclusiveness of our Ming Dynasty. So they sent the Zheng family's warships to escort the Dutch ships and allowed them to sail to Nanjing by themselves-

Of course, in order to enter the mouth of the Yangtze River, it is necessary to unload all the cannons on the Dutch ship in Chongming County, Suzhou, and temporarily hand them over to the Ming government and the local guard garrison for safekeeping!

Merchant ships can enter, they can sail freely, but warships must not enter!

Cannons belonging to foreigners must not be brought into the Yangtze River! This is the prestige of Daming's national defense, and it cannot be compromised!

Yang Sen. Tasman was initially worried about his own safety, as the Dutch had to carry gunboats all over the world. But Zheng Chenggong sternly promised:

】

In the territorial waters and internal waters of the Ming Dynasty, all safety is protected by the imperial court sailors, and before entering the Yangtze River estuary, the coastal areas of Fujian and Zhejiang are in charge of him Zheng. After entering the mouth of the Yangtze River, there is Zhenhai Marquis Zhang Mingzhen's department in charge, and no one will hurt the foreigners who come to the DPRK friendly!

Subsequently, in order to show the prestige of the Celestial Empire, Zheng Chenggong of course pulled out the most decent and mighty warships of the Zheng family. It is not necessary to have a large number, but it must be a heavy tonnage and large artillery to show the power of tomorrow.

The warships of the Ming Dynasty may not be more powerful than the heaviest three-deck Galen battleship of this era, but just looking at the size of the hull, it is not inferior to the heavy Galen, and Zheng Chenggong gathered more warships at the departure ceremony.

Descartes and Janssen. When Tasman saw it, he was also horrified.

"The Ming Dynasty in the East has a fleet size that is not below my Netherlands. The rest of the European continent countries are not worthy of comparison, I am afraid that Spain and Portugal are slightly inferior. ”

The other comparisons that Descartes could think of were Spain and Portugal. After all, even Britain is not a match for the top three at the moment.

The Ming Dynasty has a regent who controls such a large elite fleet, as well as a huge land territory and subjects, coupled with an enlightened posture of seeking talent, I am afraid that when it is completely prosperous, even the extreme west will be affected by it, so it trembles.

Descartes' desire for surrender took over more and more.

……

From Fujian to Nanjing, it took more than half a month to sail. When Descartes disembarked at the Nanjing docks at the mouth of the Qinhuai River, he was quickly struck by the grandeur and luxury of Nanjing.

And the news of their imminent arrival was naturally delivered in advance, so Zhu Shuren had already prepared.

Zhu Shuren doesn't have to live in the city all the time now, he prefers to go to the Purple Mountain or the country manor palace in Jiangning Town.

This time, I wanted to meet with foreign scientists, of course, in the palace of Jiangning Town, after all, there are a bunch of research institutes and museums established by Zhu Shuren out of their own pockets.

"Oh God, what is this? Is it the 'leopard room' of the regent of the Ming Dynasty? Originally, I heard from your other captains that when they first came to the Ming trade decades ago, they heard that the Ming Dynasty had some extravagant emperors who liked to build a place called the leopard house in the palace to raise Mengbeasts for fun? ”

Descartes was quite literate, and before he came, he specially asked those well-informed Dutch captains about the customs of the Ming Dynasty, so he was pulled by a carriage to Jiangning Town, and when the Ming officials took him to visit, his first reaction was to use the zoo as a leopard house.

Of course, he definitely didn't dare to ask the Ming officials this kind of question, and he didn't understand Chinese, so he just asked Yang Sen in Dutch. Tasman.

Janssen Tasmann had learned a lot of everyday Chinese conversation, and no longer needed a translator, and he was a little proud to introduce Descartes:

"Monsieur Descartes, they say that you are the most learned man in Europe, but it seems that your knowledge is outdated. The ones you inquired about are all old yellow calendars, this is Nanjing Zoo, how can it be a leopard room.

The leopard house was built for the personal pleasure of the tyrant of luxury, but the zoo is open to all citizens. It's just that if you are a naturalist, or even just an assistant of a naturalist, with the certification of the imperial court, you can visit, observe and study for free as many times as you want.

If you are not a scholar, you are just an ordinary citizen, you can come in, but you must pay a fee, so that there are too many people who interfere with the normal use of academic research.

The emperors and regents of the Ming Dynasty were extremely enlightened and benevolent rulers, at least for those who reign today, and as for the various armed armies of the peasants who had been in a state of flux in the past, they are not among you and me today.

You'll know when you see it, so I plan to stay and serve the regent of Daming after completing the mission entrusted by the Prince of Orange this time. Release the captives from Dayuan Island and let the other captains take them back to Batavia. ”

Zoos and botanical gardens in Europe did not appear until 150 years later, and Descartes was thrilled when he heard that the regent of the Ming Dynasty had provided such excellent research conditions for naturalists.

Descartes: "Oh my God, there really is such an enlightened ruler on earth, do you mean that this place is trying to collect as many rare animals and exotic flowers and plants as possible from all continents of the world for scholars to study for free?"

It seems that the wisest decision I have made in my life is to agree to the Prince of Orange's request to come to Daming for the rest of my life. Although I am fifty-two years old, I have a hunch that the rest of my life in Daming may have more research results than the first fifty-two years of my life combined. ”

Janssen Tasmann explained the wonders of the zoo and botanical garden museum here, which surprised Descartes many times.

In the process, Tasman himself became more and more proud, as if it was because "I made up my mind to be a Ming dog two years earlier than you, so I have deeper qualifications than you." ”

The two crossed the lake through the forest, passed through a lot of beautiful scenery and dizzying strange flowers and plants, and finally came to the palace of Zhu Shuren.

In this era, the garden art of the West was still very primitive. Louis XIV was still an eleven-year-old boy who had only been on the throne for six years, and the Palace of Versailles, which his father had left behind, had not yet been landscaped.

Therefore, Zhu Shuren built the palace next to the botanical garden, and specially planned the square in front of the palace to display flowers and plants, which can be regarded as a combination of Chinese and Western, and opened up another trend.

In the future, when more Western scholars come to him, and pass on what they have seen here, perhaps Louis XIV will also learn from the scriptures when he repairs the gardens of the Palace of Versailles.

In the textbooks of garden architecture art in later generations, there is nothing to do with Western-style gardens, and they must have been copied by the French from the Ming Dynasty.

……

A group of Dutchmen, who had never seen the world, waited in the palace for a long time, eating and drinking a lot of refreshments, before waiting for His Royal Highness the Prince Regent to take the time to receive them.

Descartes didn't understand the red tape of the Han people, so when Zhu Shuren came in, he also boldly looked directly at the other party, curious to observe, and did not know to bow his head to avoid looking.

After Zhu Shuren sat down, he just stepped forward to touch his chest with one hand and bowed.

Zhu Shuren didn't mind their European etiquette, and just spoke in Chinese: "You are Mr. Descartes?" I have admired your knowledge for a long time, and I know all about your mathematical and optical discoveries in Daming. ”

Tasman was in the middle to help translate, and Descartes was naturally flattered when he heard this, and hurriedly doubled down on the commercial blowing:

"Your Royal Highness, Your Royal Regent, you are in such a high position that you have been able to travel thousands of miles to seek talent, and you have spared no money. Your sages and sages are known to everyone, from Ireland to Fuso. ”

When Zhu Shuren heard this, he almost couldn't help laughing, and he always felt that this was a little familiar. Foreigners tout that people are more expensive and lacking in words?

Since both sides are very face-saving, there is no need to say more about some scenes, Zhu Shuren directly got straight to the point first and talked to Yang Sen. Tasman chatted with Descartes about the treatment and made an offer.

"Mr. Descartes, would you like to work at the Academy of Sciences? This is a new institution established by this king in the past two years, and the president is served by Song Yingxing, Langzhong of the Ministry of Engineering of my Ming Dynasty, and there are many research institutes under its jurisdiction, and the director can be honored by the title of director.

You just arrived, and you haven't studied all subjects, so it's impossible for you to hold a college-level position, not even a deputy position with the treatment of a foreigner. I heard that you are the best at mathematics, so let's first take the title of director of the six grades and become the director of the Institute of Mathematics.

As for the financial salary, the treatment that this king gives to the ministers of the Academy of Sciences is far more than that of other positions. You can get a thousand taels of silver per month, in addition to other supporting entertainment expenses, and a huge bonus for achieving results-

In particular, the prize money is the big one. We are here to encourage researchers to produce results, and it is not surprising that if the results are born to the common people, a one-time reward of tens of thousands of taels or even more, which is equivalent to several years or even ten years. ”

After Zhu Shuren finished talking to Descartes, he also gave the other party some time to think slowly, and he turned to Janssen. Tasman: "Mr. Tasman, this king knows that while you were working for the East India Company in Batavia, you were the former governor of the Dutch and discovered some landmass of the South Sea Islands.

This king values your talent very much, and is willing to let you be the director of the Institute of Geography of the Ming Academy of Sciences. You're solely responsible for discovering new borderlands for the Ming voyage, collecting new species from those borderlands, and bringing them back.

Every time you find a piece of unclaimed territory, this king will give you rewards ranging from tens of thousands or even hundreds of thousands of taels of silver to the economic value of the territory! If you can find new varieties of food and vegetable crops that are worth planting, the rewards will be doubled and doubled, and there is no cap! ”

Janssen Tasmann was an adventurer by birth, and of course he was more undisciplined than a scientist, and when he heard that he had so much money, he immediately agreed.

But Zhu Shuren soon proposed that he also had his own conditions, and asked Tasman to help train Daming's sailors and assistants, because it was impossible for him to take a group of Dutch sailors to the sea for adventures.

And Zhu Shuren didn't let him wander around aimlessly, he directly pointed out that he asked Tasman to take the lead in surveying Australia, which the Dutch didn't care about-

The coastline off the northeast coast of Australia was the first Tasman to sail to a few years ago, but he did not complete the feat of circumnavigating all of Australia. The Dutch East India Company was not interested in the task at the time, and felt that it was just a wild land, so the governor did not allocate him any more funds.

But Zhu Shuren is willing to allocate this money, so let Daming complete the work of fully surveying Oceania.

Descartes pondered for a long time, and when he saw that Tasman was already convinced, he agreed.

However, after seeing the strength displayed by Zhu Shuren and the price he offered to Tasman, Descartes was also a little curious, so he asked a few operational questions.

Of course, Zhu Shuren said that he would ask.

Descartes: "Your Royal Highness, Your Royal Regent, you are so willing to spend your money on species collection and research, I would like to know what you have learned?"

As far as I know, the discovery of new species is really valuable, such as the fact that Columbus brought back corn and potatoes from the Americas, which greatly increased food production. But for species that have already been discovered, shouldn't they just be promoted for large-scale cultivation? Concentrate on planting and displaying, study its habits, can there be new harvests? ”

It is not surprising that Descartes had this question, who made the ancients lack knowledge of genetics and did not know how to do control group experiments, carry out cross-breeding, and select the best of the best from generation to generation.

Zhu Shuren has this kind of thinking, although he can't do any three-line hybrid rice, and he can't do those complex biological breeding experiments.

But he is very good at planning this kind of thing, and as long as he spends money and time, he can do data records.

This kind of superior seed breeding experiment can not increase the yield of modern hybrid rice, but it will take ten years and eight years to increase the yield of Daming crop seeds.

It is possible to prevent certain pests and diseases, prevent water, wind and lodging, or improve drought resistance and develop the root system.

Asked by Descartes, Zhu Shuren proudly announced: "Mr. Descartes, we have an ancient saying in the Ming Dynasty, there is a precedence in hearing the Tao, and there is a specialization in the arts. It seems that your specialty is not in naturalism.

All things are born with good and bad seeds. Survival of the fittest, screening and improvement, can be done at any time. Benwang has focused on investing in this area of research, and although it has only been three or four years, it has already achieved a little success.

In the experimental field of Nanjing Botanical Garden, the root strength of rice has been several percent stronger than that of naturally grown varieties, which can resist drought and is not easy to lodging.

One or two varieties of wheat that can resist specific pests have also been selected, and the yield per mu can also be slightly increased by one percent. These studies have been born in the world over time, and you don't know it. ”

Descartes was said like this, and couldn't help but be fascinated by it, there can be a monarch in the world who can find a way to preside over agricultural research, so that the world's yield per mu can increase by one or two percent, or resist several disasters, which is simply unheard of.

In addition to being ashamed, Descartes became more and more determined to do a good job, because he was convinced that by contributing to Zhu Shuren, he would definitely be able to go down in history and be praised by all the written materials of the East and the West in the future.

Who doesn't want to be immortal.

When it was over, Descartes was still a little worried, so he asked again: "Then dare to ask Your Highness, do I have any excellent research conditions in the field of mathematics and physics?" What I mean by this is that facilities such as botanical and botanical gardens and museums are available to biologists. ”

Zhu Shuren thought for a while: "Isn't mathematics just a pen and paper ruler?" Then give the arithmetic Gao Yulu and let him have no worries about food and clothing. As for physics, there are really some facilities -

In a few days, you will go back to Nanjing City, and see for yourself that you are alone on the Purple Mountain, and you have built an observatory and a meteorological observatory. One is stargazing, correcting the calendar, confirming physics, using more sophisticated mirrors than the Galilean telescope, which you Europeans invented forty years ago.

As for the meteorological observatory, it is also to help everyone understand the phenology and the law of time change. The king found that in the past 20 years, the weather has been repeatedly abnormal, and the weather is colder than in ancient times. The people use the 24 solar terms handed down in ancient times and the ancient agricultural proverbs to guide production, but most of them have delayed the agricultural time, and the effect is not good.

When the weather is cold and rainy, according to the ancient method, the planting is often early, and it should be postponed to wait for warmer and wetter. At harvest time, there is often such a problem, and sometimes if there are conditions, the grouting is not sufficient, and it is necessary to wait a few more days.

All this is due to the fact that the perception of weather phenology in the past is too general. Lonely people take water semi-condensation as ice as zero degrees, water boiling as gas as 100 degrees, equal parts 100 percent as the scale, and carry the phenology of the four hours.

In the future, not only will weather stations be set up in Nanjing, but also in all provinces, collecting the cold and warm temperatures of each month in all provinces of the world, accurate to the degree, and accumulating historical data over many years, so that we can guide the agricultural time according to the comparison between the cold and warm temperature of a specific year and the history, and let the officials advise the agricultural time to fine-tune slightly.

This is also the research of Ze by the world, there are many equipment in it, you want to study heat in physics, you can also use it - how, do you really want to work for this king immediately? ”

Zhu Shuren didn't need to draw a big pie, but just took out the small achievements of many small facilities and small achievements of physics research that he had built around Nanjing in the past two years, and described them truthfully, which made Descartes drool with envy.

A new type of telescope that is a generation more advanced than the Galileo telescope! And an accurate mercury thermometer! The basic study of physics and arithmetic can definitely go a big step forward.

Descartes completely decided to work hard for Zhu Shuren.

——

ps: Preparing for the new book, the time is a bit tight, the update is not very stable, sorry. Every day, I took time to write in the morning, and I didn't have any manuscripts left.